Sharif Sehnaoui

is a free improvising guitarist. He plays both electric & acoustic guitars, with (or without) extended and prepared techniques, focusing on expanding the intrinsic possibilities of these instruments without the use of effects or electronics. He now resides in Beirut, his hometown, after more than a decade in Paris, where he started his career as an improviser in 1998, playing at Instants Chavirés where he was a member of several orchestras. He has since performed his music worldwide and played in many clubs & festivals such as Soundfield (Chicago), Moers, Konfrontationen (Nickelsdorf), Météo Music Festival (Mulhouse), Club Transmediale (Berlin), Skanu Mesz (Riga) or Musikprotokoll (Graz).

In Lebanon, he actively contributed to the emergence of an unprecedented experimental music scene. Along with Mazen Kerbaj he created "Irtijal" (www.irtijal.org) in 2000, a yearly international festival that is at the moment the only improvised and new music festival in the Arab world. "Irtijal" celebrated its Xth anniversary in 2010.

He also runs several labels: "Al Maslakh" (www.almaslakh.org) devoted to "publish the un-publishable" on the Lebanese musical scene. "Johnny Kafta’s Kids Menu" (www.johnnykafta.com) an Al Maslakh sub-label dedicated to rock oriented experimentations. And finally, "Annihaya" (www.annihaya.com), focusing on sampling, recycling and the displacement of various aspects of popular culture.

His main groups and projects include the "A" Trio (with Kerbaj & Raed Yassin), BAO (with Kerbaj, Charbel Haber & Tony Elieh), an acoustic guitar solo using exclusively percussion techniques and "Wormholes" an audio-visual performance with Kerbaj drawing live on a glass table.